The present invention relates to a control gate for the outlet of a card or substrate storage hopper used with a card printer, which is adjustable to change the opening height for feeding cards of different thickness from the hopper. An actuator is used to drive a cam to adjust the position of the control gate.
Printers for ID cards and like substrates that will accept different cards or substrates have been advanced. The ability to adapt card feeders for different sizes and thicknesses of cards to reliably feed the cards into a printing station is needed. Problems can arise when feeders that are set for relatively thick cards are used for attempting to feed thin cards. At times more than one card will be fed to the printer. In addition, the ability for an operator to manually change the setting so that cards of a different thickness can be reliably fed is desired.
The present invention relates to a card hopper that has an adjustable gate for the exit or outlet opening of the hopper to permit adjusting the height of the outlet opening for cards or substrates of different thickness. The adjustable gate can be moved to insure reliable, one card at a time feeding from the card hopper. The card hopper and card feeder are used in connection with a card printer, or other processor where feeding one card at a time is essential to satisfactory operation.
The present invention includes a hopper for plastic cards or similar, fairly rigid substrates having an outlet opening covered by a gate that slides in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the card being fed, to permit adjusting the height of the opening. As shown, the gate is spring loaded in one direction toward a closed position. The gate position is changed by moving the gate against the spring load with a cam controlled by an actuator. A double acting cam or operator for positively moving the gate in both open and closed directions can be provided.
The actuator lever, as shown moves the cam so the gate is held in a desired position. An edge of the gate defines one edge of the outlet opening relative to an opposite edge of the outlet opening so the thickness of the card that will be fed is controlled. In one form of the invention, the cam is a linear ramp type cam, and in another form of the invention a rotary cam is used.
The cam may be manually operated as shown in most embodiments or a drive motor can be used as also illustrated. The motor can be controlled by a card thickness sensor or by a manual, operator selected input signal for each card thickness.
By having appropriate markings or actuator stops, the lever or other control can be used for quickly adjusting the gate so the opening matches the thickness of cards in a stack that is being fed to a printer or other processor.